Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future

Richard T. Wright is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Gordon College in Massachusetts, where he taught environmental science for 28 years. He earned a B.A. from Rutgers University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University. For many years Wright received grant support from the National Science Foundation for his work in marine microbiology, and in 1981, he was a founding faculty member of Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies in Michigan, where he also served as Academic Chairman for 11 years. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Au Sable Institute, and the American Association for the Advancement Scientific Affiliation. In 1996, Wright was appointed a Fulbright Scholar to Daystar University in Kenya, where he taught for two months. He is a member of many environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Habitat for Humanity, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Audubon Society, and a supporting member of the Trustees of Reservations. Wright continues to be actively involved in writing and speaking about the environment. He and his wife Ann recently moved to Byfield, Massachusetts, and they drive a Toyota Camry hybrid vehicle as a means of reducing their environmental impact. Wright spends his spare time hiking, fishing, golfing, and enjoying his three children and seven grandchildren.

Dorothy F. Boorse is an associate professor of biology at Gordon College, in Wenham Massachusetts. Her research interest is in drying wetlands such as vernal pools and prairie potholes, and in salt marshes. Her research with undergraduates has included wetland and invasive species projects. She earned a BS in biology from Gordon College, a MS in entomology from Cornell University, and a PhD in oceanography and limnology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Boorse teaches, writes, and speaks about biology, the environment, and care of creation. An essay she wrote on climate change was recently published in a book by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Press. In 2005 Boorse provided expert testimony on wildlife corridors and environmental ethics for a congressional House subcommittee hearing.

Boorse is a member of a number of ecological and environmental societies including The Ecological Society of America, the Society of Wetland Scientists, the Nature Conservancy, The Audubon Society, The New England Wildflower Society, and the Trustees of Reservations (the oldest land conservancy group in the United States). She and her family live in Beverly Massachusetts. She and her family belong to Appleton farms, a CSA community supported agriculture farm. They are also members of a newly established community supported fishery, Cape Ann Fresh Catch. At home Boorse has a native plant garden and has recently planted two disease resistant elm trees.